THE BLUFF OF THE SCIENTISTS

Srila Prabhupada: [holding a rose in his hand]. Can any scientist create a flower like this in the laboratory?

Dr. Singh: That is not possible.

Srila Prabhupada: No, it is not. Just see how wonderfully Krishna's energy is working! No scientist can create a flower like this in his laboratory. They cannot create even a few grains of sand, yet they claim to possess the most advanced intellects in the universe. This is foolish.

Dr. Singh: Some scientists say that we have improved on nature by making things like plastic and medicine.

Srila Prabhupada: In Vedic times people ate on silver and golden plates, but now the scientists have improved things with plastic plates. [Laughter.]

Dr. Singh: The plastic has become a great problem because they cannot get rid of it. There is no way to dispose of it. It just continues to pile up.

Srila Prabhupada: I am not a Ph.D., yet I can challenge the scientists. Why? Because I know Krishna, the Absolute Truth. This kind of knowledge is required. Not that we do some research, come up with a theory, and after fifteen years say, "No, no, it is not right—it is another thing." That is not science; that is child's play.

Dr. Singh: That is how they discover things—by research.

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Srila Prabhupada: And what is the cost of the research? It is a scientific method for drawing money from others, that's all. In other words, it is cheating. Scientists juggle words like plutonium, photons, hydrogen and oxygen, but what good will people get from this? When people hear this jugglery of words, what can they say? One scientist explains something to some extent, and then another rascal comes along and explains it again, but differently, with different words. And all the time the phenomenon has remained the same. What advancement has been made? They have simply produced volumes of books. Now there is a petrol problem. Scientists have created it. If the petrol supply dwindles away, what will these rascal scientists do? They are powerless to do anything about it.

Now there is a scarcity of water in India, but what are the scientists doing about it? There is more than enough water in the world, so why don't the scientists bring water where it is urgently required? They should employ irrigation immediately. But instead they are going to the moon, the dusty planet, to make it fertile. Why don't they irrigate this planet? There's plenty of seawater, so why don't they irrigate the Sahara or the Arabian or Rajasthani Desert? "Yes," they say, "in the future. We are trying." In their pride, they immediately say, "Yes, yes. We are trying." In Bhagavad-gita it is said that when one is engaged in the business of satisfying unnecessary desires, he becomes bereft of all intelligence (kāmais tais tair hrta-jñānāh,).

This moon project is childish. Those who aspire to go to the moon are like crying children. A child cries, "Mother, give me the moon," so the mother gives the child a mirror and says, "Here is the moon, my dear son." And the child takes the mirror, sees the moon in it and says, "Oh, I have the moon." Unfortunately, this is not just a story.

Karandhara: After spending all that money to go to the moon and bring back just a few rocks, the people on the space project decided that there was nothing more to do there.

Brahmānanda Swami: Now they want to go to another planet, but they are short of money. Going to other planets costs millions and billions of dollars.

Srila Prabhupada: People work very hard while the rascal government takes taxes and spends money unnecessarily. There should be no sympathy when so much hard-earned money comes from the public and is spent so foolishly. Now the leaders are presenting another bluff "Don't worry, we are going to another planet. Now we shall bring more dust. We shall bring tons of dust. Oh, yes, now we shall have tons of dust."

Dr. Singh: They believe there may be life on Mars.

Srila Prabhupada: They may believe or not believe. What is the difference? Life exists here, but people are fighting. So suppose there is life on Mars. There is life on Mars, undoubtedly. But what will we gain from this?

Dr. Singh: People are curious to know what is going on there.

Srila Prabhupada: That means that for their childish curiosity they must spend vast sums of money. Just see the fun. And when they are asked to help one of the many poverty-stricken countries, they say, "No. No money." Do you see?

(An excerpt from “Life Comes From Life”, available at all Hare Krishna Centers)